UNLEASHED Is the Swedish Death Metal Band of the Week

June 15, 2016

Raise your silver hammers for Unleashed, the Swedish death metal monsterhouse formed by Johnny Hedlund in 1989 after Nihilist split up! Actually, Nihilist didn’t really split up, all the younger members only pretended to fold, they then promptly reunited as Entombed without telling Hedlund. Oof! But that’s all water under the Øresund Bridge, and we on the listening end of things benefited by the emergence of two essential bands.

Unleashed’s 1991 debut Where No Life Dwells is a smooth-rolling bulldozer, as Daniel Ekeroth says: “among the pioneering masterpieces of Swedish death metal.” Enjoy it once more with something strong in your ale horn, and see if you aren’t tweaked constantly by the little nudges of Nihilist that ended up here instead of in Entombed’s famous sound.